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Mack D. Mariania1 and Gordon J. Hewitta2

a1 Xavier University

a2 Hamilton College

In the provocatively titled Indoctrination U., David Horowitz argues that radical members of college faculties have “intruded a political agenda into the academic curriculum,” engaging in propaganda rather than scholarship and indoctrinating students rather than teaching them (Horowitz 2007, xi). Although allegations of liberal bias in academia are nothing new, the issue has gained increased attention as the result of efforts by Horowitz and the Center for the Study of the Popular Culture (CSPC) to promote the Academic Bill of Rights for American colleges and universities.

Mack Mariani is an assistant professor of political science at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Gordon Hewitt is assistant dean of the faculty for institutional research at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Footnotes

We wish to thank John Pryor of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, Daniel Klein at GMU, and our colleagues at Hamilton College and Xavier University for their support and assistance on this project. Given that this is a study of faculty ideology, it seems reasonable to be open about our own ideological dispositions. We come from divergent political and ideological perspectives. One author is conservative and has worked extensively for Republican candidates and officeholders, while the other is liberal and active in Democratic politics at the local level.